Method for producing slitted blanks



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 H. M. GERSMAN METHOD FOR PRODUCING SLITTBD BLANKS Original Filed Aug. 14, 1933 Nov; 28, 1939.

N M N INVENTOR Harvey?! 6 1 13771011, 7

9 ATTORA EYS Nov. 28, 1939. H. M. GERSMAN 2.181228 ag. 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

20 I 19 V 22 17 Q l INVENTOR Patented Nov. 28, 1939 a -r s I 2 1833 223 UNETED STATES PATENT OFF! 2,181,228

METHOD FOR PRODUCING SLITTED BLANKS 7 Harvey M. Gersman, New York, N. Y;, assignor to Ferrex Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Substitute for abandoned application Serial No. 685,017, August 14, 1933. This application April 21,1939, Serial No. 269,264 H v 4 Claims. (01. so-soy This application is a substitute for application the blank during, 'and as a part of,'the slitting No. 685,017 filed August 14., 1933. operation This invention relates to the production The invention is illustrated in the 'accompanyslitted blanks which are suitable for the manudraWingS, in'whichl facture of metal lath. More particularly the in- Figure 1 is a viewin elevation of equipment for 5 vention is concerned with the production of such practicing the invention. l blanks directly from stock of sheet bar or equiva- Figure 2 is a pla V ew Of the equipment lent gauge. Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary section of Heretofore slitted blanks of the type generally the slitting and reducing rolls and is taken alon described have been produced in a cold slitting line 33 of Figure 2.

operation, the sheets employed being produced in Fi ure 4 is an en ed fragmentary Section Of 1 a hot rolling operation by so-called sheet mills. the slitting and reducing rolls taken along the The latter, in order to meet different trade reline at which the sheet is initially engaged by quirements are designed to produce a wide range the rolls.

of sizes and gauges. The units of the mill are, Figure 5 is asimilar View of the rollsalong a 15 therefore, relatively large with respect to the parline at which the slitting operation is complete. ticular requirements for the reduction of sheets Figure 6 is a similar view of the rollsalong a suitable for the manufacture of lath, the rolls of line at which the reducing'operation is complete. the units usually being from 24 inches to 36 Figure 7 is a similar view of the rolls, the secinches in length, whereas the sheets to be rolled tion being taken through the clearances which 20 are ordinarily from 8 inches to 10 inches, in p v the bonds by w ich the adja ent stra width. A certain part of the total cost of operare connected. ating a mill is substantially constant regardless Figure 8 is an enlarged fragmentary section of the weight of the sheets being rolled, such part illustrating slitting and reducing 'rolls of a modioi the operating'cost being dependent, among fied form.9 f th I fi d f 1',

0 her factors, uponthe sizeof the mill. It will Figure is a ur er modi e orm o si ing be apparent, therefore, that in the case of light and reducing rolls, the rolls in'this embodiment weight sheets such as, for example, are of the co-operating to reduce the thickness of the blank size required for the manufacture of metal lath to final gauge during the slittingoperation.

the fixed part of the operating cost is so high with hInt afccolrdincfe 1witiibthe invention ta heated 30 respect to the weight of the blanks produced as 5 ee 0 s 00 o s ee ar or equiva en gauge is to be prohibitive. For this "reason it has been I reduced to final gauge by reducing rolls, the sheet the practice to roll the sheets in multiple widths being slit during and as apart of the reduction in the sheet mills and then slit them into blanks operation. As illustrated, the equipment for ac- 5 of the desired size, the sheets being annealed and c'gmgll sfilillgl this1 irliflifilrglsr1 ahplzirality of r0111 pickled to render them relatively soft and sub- 5 an S IOU-g W 10 e S 66 is SUCCESSiVe y stantially free from scale in order to avoid injury passed to effect successive reduct the Sheet to the slitting rolls and at the same time main- 5 5 i c'i h f 525 52 2 a w P tain at a minimum the power required in the a a an Q na us 15 40 slitting operations. The procedure described is gfig ziigg i gzgifg 1t f g g gg r s gfigi 40 1 a T l ie piiii c ia f o b iect of the present invention i q in efiiect small reducing i the 's to ove come the above objections this object Sald umts bemg deslgniad so that.the light lath 1,; l v f d gauges are the base s1zes, that is to say, the

corftefnplmm? nove Pmess or 8 uc 1,011 rolls. l2 are designed for the reduction of sheets 9 of P type F' descrlbed which of narrow Widths such as, for example, 8 inches is simple, rapid and economlcalto 10 inches. The rolls, therefore, are relatively further Oblect 15 to provlde for the Produc' stiff and can effect large reductions in such pass.

mm of blanks in Such a manner that, with I-Ience the numier of stands required is corresheet to a p r i a h Or size openings. spondingly small. As a result of this, and the- 50 len th and W dth, ath Of V ous Weights y fact that the sheetslto be rolled are relatively be produced from the same gauge stock. short, the mill is compact and the sheets when A further object is to provide a novel design heated can be reduced to final gauge and slit of slittin rolls,,this objectcontemplating the use without requiring reheating. In this connection of the said rolls to effect the final reduction of it is noted that the scale which forms upon the 55 in order to avoid the necessity of pickling them.

Slitting the sheets while hot has the further advantage that the necessity of annealing them is also avoided.

Each of the rolls 13 of the stand H' is made up of a series of discs M which are suitably secured upon a shaft [5. The discs are formed or provided with hub-like portions l6 which carry annular ribs II. The hubs of the discs are secured against one another and their-peripheries co-operate with the side walls of the ribs to provide annular recesses I8, it being noted that the discs are secured upon the shafts of the rolls in such a manner that the ribs of one roll are directly opposite and coincide with the recesses provided by the discs of the companion roll. In other words, the ribs and recesses of one roll coincide respectively with the recesses and ribs of the other roll, the ribs of each roll working in the recesses of the other.

The ribs II are formed for a part of their depth with parallel wall portions l9 which provide shearing edges and which co-operate with one another to slit the sheets into strands and connecting bonds, the depth of said portions preferably being just enough to insure a proper shearing action. From the parallel portions IS, the walls of the recesses taper as indicated at 20 toward the bottom walls 20a thereof. The degree of taper is determined by the extent to which the strands are to be elongated, the greater the degree of elongation desired, the greater the degree of taper that is required. In any event regardless of the mini- :mum degree of taper actually required to produce the desired amount of elongation the side walls of the recesses are preferably tapered to such a degree as to facilitate stripping of the sheets from the rolls.

As a sheet 22 enters the rolls I3 parallel portions thereof are engaged by the ribs l1 and are displaced in opposite directions, the displaced portions entering the recesses l8. As best shown in Figure '7 the ribs II are cut away at regular inter-,

vals as at 2| to provide bonds 23 for connecting the strands of the blank. The said recesses, as illustrated, are formed in co-operating pairs which are arranged in staggered or break-joint relation, it being understood that if desired the connecting bonds maybe provided by suitably notching only one of the rolls. The sheet which enters the rolls I3 is preferably of a temperature of the order of 1300 and is, therefore, relatively plastic. Hence the initial action of the rolls is a forming action, that is to say the metal is forced into the opposite recesses of the rolls. Thereafter the shearing of the metal connecting the displaced portions takes place and the strands are completed. As the displaced portions are forced into the recesses the tapered walls 20 thereof displace metal fromthe sides of the strands and as the depth of the pass provided by the ribs andrecesses is such that an increase in the thickness of the strands is prevented, the displaced metal is taken up solely by the elongation of the strands, the degree of such elongation, as indicated, depending upon the degree of taper of the walls 20.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 5 the a between the peripheries of the ribs and the bottom walls of the recesses, is equal to the thickness of the sheet at the time it enters the rolls. It will be apparent, therefore, that in such case the thickness of the sheet remains the same during its passage through the rolls, the elongation of the strands being effected solely by the displacement of metal from their sides. It is preferred, however, that the sheet be reduced to final gauge or thickness in the slitting rolls. To this end the rolls l3a of the embodiment shown in Figure 9 are associated in such a manner that the ribs and recesses Ma and Eta, respectively, thereof cooperate to provide passes which are less in depth than the thickness of the sheets which are delivered to the rolls from the adjacent stand Hi. In this embodiment the passes provided by the ribs and recesses are filled before completion of the slitting operation, the strands being reduced in thickness as the metal defining the. strands is severed. It will be apparent, therefore, that in this embodiment the elongation of the strands is effected not only by displacing metal from the sides of the strands but also by reducing them in thickness.

As the slitted sheets emerge from the slitting rolls they may be formed in packs or coils and covered. At this time they still retain sufficient heat to self-anneal themselves to a point at which they will be soft enough for the subsequent expanding operation, it being unnecessary for the sheets to be as soft for expanding as for shearing.

It will be noted that the depth of the ribs H5 is substantially less than their width. This has the advantage that the heat which is transferred to the ribs from the sheets will be distributed over a relatively large area and hence will be quickly dissipated. Warping of the ribs, therefore, is avoided. As only a small part of the strand forming operation is actually shearing and that of hot metal, the shearing edges of the ribs will operate effectively over long periods of time.

The embodiment illustrated in Figure 8 includes companion rolls 83b which are formed with cooperating ribs and recesses ill) and H81) respectively. In this embodiment the tapered side walls 20?) of the ribs are curved instead of straight, the rolls in other respects being substantially the same and functioning in substantially the same manner as those shown in Figure 4.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that slitted blanks of final gauge may be produced directly from stock of sheet bar or equivalent gauge. The elongation of the strands in the manner described has the advantage that with respect to expanded sheets of a particular size various weights of sheets may be produced from stock of the same gauge. In other words, the weight of the expanded sheets may be decreased by increasing the amount of reduction of the strands while the weight of the expanded sheets may be decreased by decreasing the elongation of the strands, it being understood that in each case the length of the sheet bar is determined by the weight of the finished sheet. Slitted blanks of the required size and weight may, therefore, be produced from one, or at the most, two gauges of stock. As the mill is designed with particular reference to the reduction of stock of a particular gauge the operating costs thereof can be maintained at a minimum.

While the slitting and reducing rolls l3 are shown as comprising gangs of discs it is to be understood this is for purposes of illustration only. They may, for example, be formed from solid rolls, the co-operating ribs and recesses in this case being formed by a suitable milling operation.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method of producing a slitted blank suitable for the manufacture of metal lath which includes heating the sheet from which the blank is to be formed, slitting the sheet to provide strands and connecting bonds by deflecting alternate parallel portions in one direction while deflecting the intermediate parallel portions in the opposite direction, and displacing metal from the sides of said portions as they are deflected whereby to elongate the strands correspondingly. 2. The method of producing a slitted blank suitable for the manufacture of metal lath which includes heating the sheet from which the blank is to be formed, slitting the sheet to provide strands and connecting bonds by deflecting alternate parallel portions in one direction while deflecting the intermediate parallel portions in the opposite direction, and displacing metal from the sides only of said portions as they are deflected whereby to elongate the strands correspondingly. I I

3. The method of producing a blank suitable for the manufacture of metal lath which includes slitting the sheet from which the blank is to be a formed by deflecting alternate parallel portions in one direction while deflecting the intermediate parallel portions in the opposite direction, and rolling the said portions as they are deflected in the manner described whereby to elongate the strands. 1

4. The method of producing a slitted blank suitable for the manufacture of metal lath which consists in slitting the sheet from which the blank is to be formed to provide strands and connecting bonds by deflecting alternate parallel portions in one direction while deflecting the intermediate parallel portions in the opposite direction, and displacing metal from the sides of said portions and reducing them in thickness asthey are deflected whereby to elongate the strands correspondingly.

HARVEY M. GERSMANQ 

